Sách tiếng Anh cho trẻ em Book 29 so much to learn

So Much to Learn
A Reading A–Z Poetry Book
Word Count: 893

POETRY

So Much
to Learn

Written by Dina Anastasio
Illustrated by Chris Baldwin

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So Much
to Learn

Written by Dina Anastasio
Illustrated by Chris Baldwin

So Much to Learn
A Reading A–Z Poetry Book
© 2006 ProQuest Information
and Learning Company
Written by Dina Anastasio
Illustrated by Chris Baldwin
All rights reserved.

www.readinga-z.com

www.readinga-z.com


I Don’t Get It
I don’t get it. This is rough.
I’ll never understand this stuff.
I’ve had enough of this today.
I wish I could go out to play.
What’s the answer? I don’t know.
My brain is moving very slow.
If only I could take one look
And understand what’s in this book.
My mother says when I was small
I’d try to walk and then I’d fall.
And later when I learned to ride
I’d fall no matter how I tried.
Table of Contents
I Don’t Get It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Question Marks??? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

But I kept on. Yes, it was rough.
In time I understood that stuff.
I guess it’s true, I’ll get it when
I try and try and try again.

Blue and Yellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
New Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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4


Question Marks???
I wrote a story about a boy and his pig.
The boy wasn’t small.
The pig wasn’t big.
I wrote a sentence
about the pig making cheeps
Instead of a snore or an oink as he sleeps.
Now a pig that makes cheeps
is a magical thing.
Think of the questions
that cheeping pigs bring.
“Why do you cheep?”
the big boy might say.
“Are you dreaming that you
were a bird for one day?”
But that’s not the sentence
I decided to write.
I kept thinking of what little pigs
dream at night.
So, this is the sentence
I made up and wrote . . .
“Perhaps small pigs baah

when they dream they’re a goat.”

5

6


Blue and Yellow
Today I learned how a color is made.
I learned how to mix up a lovely green shade.
I discovered that yellow when added to blue
Turns into a pleasant, agreeable hue.
At first I was baffled by why I would choose
To add yellow paint to my small pots of blues.
But then I remembered that grasses and beans,
And olives and turtles and hoses are green.
I ended the sentence with a period dot.
I did not use a question mark.
A question it was not.
If instead I had written, “Are you a crow?”
Now that is a question,
even if he’d croaked “NO!”
These days I care more
about what’s at the end
Of each sentence or question
in the message I send.
If I’m searching for answers,
to learn and grow wise,
I’d better use question marks,
or I’ll get no replies.

7

8


I started by adding bits of yellow to blues.
I was not sure exactly how much
yellow to use.
I was painting some grass
in a small sunny park,
But the green in my grass
looked unusually dark.
So I painted some beans. I painted a snake.
I painted a fern by the side of a lake.
Then I added more yellow
and thought of the sun.
I stirred and I stirred
and when I was done,
The green in the pot wasn’t dark,
it was light.
Then I painted my grass,
and the shade was just right.

New Words
My new teacher says that in order to grow
There are more and more words
that I’ll need to know.
“Learn one word each day,”
is what he tells me.
“Or learn several more,

perhaps 5, perhaps 3.”
I said “Okay, I guess that I’ll try.
But will you explain?
Will you please tell me why?
What is the purpose of learning new words?
Will it help when I’m swimming
or speaking to birds?”

So I guess I have learned
it’s important and true
That green comes from yellow
that is mixed up with blue.
And now when I think that learning’s a pain,
I remember those colors that lit up my brain.

9

10


Homework
I did my homework yesterday.
I finished it and then,
I gave it to my teacher.
Now here it comes again.
I see no need for homework.
What good is it to me?
Will it help me sail the world
When I’m twenty-three?

“Of course! There’s no doubt!”
said my odd little teacher.
“Words mean a lot
when you speak to a creature.
When describing a swim
to a bird you can say,
‘A luminous tarpon descended today.
He brushed up my fibula
and my tarsal bone too.
Then he slithered away
without saying adieu.’
Or perhaps you would rather
just yawn, shrug, and say,
‘Today I went swimming in Barnegat Bay.’”
11

Wait! Perhaps I should rethink
Those words I said before.
Homework might just help me when
I’m sailing toward the shore.
I’ll have to understand the stars,
And navigate the fog.
I’ll have to figure out the miles,
And write things in my log.
So if I’m going to sail the world,
To wander and to roam,
I’d better do my homework now,
Or I won’t make it home.

12

History
When I’m feeling bored
with my history book,
I think of the trip my
great-grandmother took.
Her ship hit a storm.
She shivered and cried.
For more than a month
she huddled inside.

13

14


Then at last she arrived.
She was just 10 years old.
She was scared and alone.
She was thirsty and cold.
Some relatives met her
and carried her home.
They gave her some food,
some clothes, and a comb.
They lit a nice fire
and taught her a song.
And that’s when this girl knew
just where she belonged.

She’s an old lady now,
and she’s in that house still.
She tells me her stories
and I listen until
It’s time to go back
to my history book,
And read about trips
other great-grandmothers took.
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